A Surprise Visit

There are many things that occur in a heart when it truly encounters the Lord. The one thing that moves me every time about the heart of Jesus is His tenderness. My best days are when I can cry in His presence. Not because of sadness, but because my heart is experiencing His heart. When our hearts touch the heart of Jesus, it is as if the walls and defenses we have built up are torn down and His heart of tender love touches the places that have been deeply hidden inside of us. Its these places which we try to hide with so many different things that He longs for. Oh how I love when I sense the tenderness in His heart. It causes me to love better.

That very thing happened today. While waiting alone in the doctors office, He came. There I was sitting on that very uncomfortable chair looking at the not so great art on the wall and He surprised me with a visit. In that moment, I closed my eyes and sat in silence and completely enjoyed Him as He sat with me. It was like a wave of peace came over me and that all too familiar presence came so near. I wanted to greet Him with "oh its you again! Come and make yourself comfortable by me! Oh wait, you already have. And I'm so glad you did!" Instead, I did not say a word. Really good friends don't have to talk. They can sit together in the comfort of knowing they are in safe company. This is His desire for us! It is in moments like this that I'm reminded I have a friend so dear and so close. This friend, Jesus, has unending tenderness and mercy towards us. The sweetness in His heart no one can fathom! And even though I often write about Him publicly, I really like the fact that He is personal with us. I like it that He wants to spend time with us alone...just you and Him! He knows the ends and outs of our lives and we don't have to put up any fronts with Him. More surprise visits, please!

Dealing with Changes and Transitions

As people, we normally don’t like change. Actually, it’s more that we don’t like the time of transition that accompanies the change. There is nothing harder than to be in the middle of what used to be and what is about to be. There are many transitions that occur over our lifetime. We will all agree that change is both necessary and good, but walking it out can sometimes be difficult.

There are chunks of seasons in all of our lives that produce different purposes in us. Each one is very different, but very necessary. We need to become analyzers of our lives. Sounds fun, right?! For example, think about the chunks, or seasons, in your life up to this point. Depending on how old you are will determine how many there have been.

Let’s talk about our pasts. People say to forget the past, but I find it is incredibly important to diagnose, analyze, and remember it. Even in the most difficult times of our pasts, it is helpful to ask God for His understanding as to why those things happened. Many times we can’t grasp the big picture of what God is doing in the present. It may not be until years later that we have the right perspective and understanding of what God was doing in us back then. This isn’t always the case, but sometimes it is. We should be excited to get old and look back on our lives and see the definite hand of God in it. I know it is with us right now, but we will have much more understanding of it the older we get. The longer you live, the more you tend to see the bigger picture. You will find that even among the mistakes nothing was wasted. Looking back on our lives up to this point can produce an even more “I love you God” in our hearts if we have the ability to see God’s hand in it. There’s a bit of romance in it.

Nothing can help get us through present situations than to look back at our past and see the times God has taken care of us. He wants us to remember how He has gotten us through before so we can believe the same for today. Sometimes this is all we have – a memory of God’s faithfulness. Like I said earlier, the hardest place to live is the in-between place of what used to be and what is ahead. It could be that you believe God for something in prayer and it hasn’t happened yet. You feel as though you are standing in the middle of an impossible situation waiting for God to answer. Or, it could be a time of transition in the natural. Maybe life is looking different than it used to and you haven’t quite gotten used to the flow of how it is going. Remember, change is necessary and important. When things change, you have to trust that God’s purpose in the season that has just ended has been accomplished. This is hard because we get used to how life looks. We get used to relationships and knowing what to expect in our day to day lives. When a new season begins, we can feel vulnerable and confused as to where life is headed. We aren’t in as much control, so we tend to worry and have anxiety or fear.

Think about the season of life you are in. Are you in the middle of a season that you have been in for awhile? Life is comfortable, you know what to expect, and nothing is really changed in awhile? Know that probably at some point you will encounter a new beginning of some sort. Or maybe you are in a time of transition and everything has recently changed. Wherever you are, I hope you are encouraged that in your life there will be many changes that take place. Over and over, your life will look different and your role will change. This is all a part of God’s plan. Trusting Him is the difficult part!

God's Soccer Team - He Chooses the Worst First?

All of us have memories of what our favorite recess activity was. At Fairbanks Elementary School in Morenci, AZ, we had lots of options. I remember the group of girls who would carry around their stereo playing Garth Brooks and George Strait with their awesome slap bracelets. I also remember future cheerleaders trying out their stunts with their extra high bangs and pony tails swaying as they practiced their awesome stunts. Then there were traditional playing like swinging, sliding, and the tire swing. If you went to school with me, I know you have a big smile on your face right now! There were other activities like basketball courts, a huge soccer field, and a large grassy area for football, etc. This is where you would often see kids picking teams for competition. As they stood waiting to be chosen by the two kids picking soccer teams, everyone standing knew who would get chosen first, second, third, and on and on. They knew who can kick the ball and who can’t. They knew who would be the last standing with a bit of embarrassment as he/she knew they were the last one to be chosen. It wasn’t a surprise to anyone the order in which these kiddos would be picked by the team leader. I wonder what would happen if one day the team leader would’ve chosen that person first. He/She would have gotten lots of confusing looks, including from the person chosen, as to why that choice was made.

There are a lot of people in life that feel just the same as that kid did. With their head hanging low and their confidence barely hanging on by a thread, they wait their entire life for someone to notice them. They are used to being last, unnoticed, and without favor. They aren’t good at many things and nothing about them would cause someone to look their way. They seem to be in the “forgotten” category and have lived with this kind of label placed on them by others.

The heart of God not only wants to surprise us with His positive affirmation concerning our lives, but He especially has a place in His heart for the one who feels forgotten and unwanted. He longs to tear the labels off of our lives that have been placed on us by other’s opinions and words concerning who we are. Everyone carries false labels put on them by others and the Lord wants to break them off so we can live life from our true identity, which is one who is the Lord’s love and delight! He wants us to be confident and aware that we are the apple of His eye.

1 Corinthians 1:26 says “Remember that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.”

To know that God actually chooses the despised, things counted as nothing, and things considered foolish just doesn’t make sense to us. He is so different than us and sees beyond physical looks, wealth, and other things many use as a standard to judge. His so called soccer team is made up of people who can barely kick a ball, run kinda funny, and wear cheap off brand athletic shoes! That’s really good news for people like me who make all kinds of silly mistakes and is often the source of many peoples’ laughter and rolled-eyes! I don’t love Him because I’m strong enough to. I love Him because inside of His big heart is a place for someone like me!

This is why it’s an incredible thing for someone to carry God’s heart for another because it is a love that is greater than what we experience on the earth. God isn’t tainted by our culture and the way we make decisions about others. He is both pure and perfect LOVE and no one can change His mind about you! He will make you feel like an only child, that you have His full glance, and that you are His favorite!

God's Fingerprints on Our Lives and Relationships

Every relationship in our lives has numerous purposes and potential for teaching us about ourselves and about life in general. Do we live with the understanding and feeling of awe that every friendship that is formed during this time on the earth is intimately woven together by the very hand of God? When we do, we are more able to recognize God’s divine hand in our lives and can know that nothing happens by chance. By doing so, we can grow more in the potential that God has for every single one of us because we know our life is important. When we know our importance, it protects us from living in hopelessness and despair and reminds us that even in the boredom of some days, God is taking notice. It’s so important we live with this kind of perspective. Life is so much more fun with a sense of destiny in the “normal” things, like friendships. I love thinking about my friends and family and how, among all the billions of people on the earth, I am meant to share life with them. God wants us to be wowed by the normal every day parts of life! Our lives have destiny written all over it, and our relationships are among the most important and enjoyable things He has given us. God wants us to see His fingerprints on our every day normal lives.

The problem with you and I is that we sometimes stink at relationships. What we need to realize is that even if we have made mistakes or have regrets in relationships, nothing is a waste when it comes to living life better. It’s hard for us to see that even in our mistakes God can work something beautiful on the inside of us. That’s what God does best. He is really, really good at this! He can take any situation or relationship, even though it may never be the way it was at one time, and teach us about how to live life better. Then, there are times that He can heal the brokenness in the relationship to where it is better than what it was. Bitterness, on the other hand, tells us to give up and live in our anger and unforgiveness, when God wants to use every situation for us to become who we are supposed to become. Take advantage of what God wants to do even in life’s mistakes.

Take a minute and think about the people in your life. Begin to live every day knowing that it is no coincidence they have been brought into your life. It may just be for a season, or it may be for a lifetime. Take advantage of the gift of friendship that has been given to you, and in return, be the gift that you are meant to be to someone else. Keep the right perspective when dealing with broken relationships or mistakes and be open to the change that God wants to bring in your life so you can live life to your fullest potential. Most of all, don’t forget how important you are!! Oh, and laugh a lot.

God's Time Line - Days of Mercy

It’s so important to understand the days we are living in. It’s kind of incredible to think that the beginning of life on the earth was just one part of God’s history. The fact that He always was is enough to overwhelm our little brains. It is simply hard to comprehend the fact that God had no beginning. Yet, in that time before the earth was created, He thought up everything that we see and know. Imagine God’s never ending time line and the beginning of humanity being somewhere on that. We are going towards something. There are other events on His time line and we don’t have to be in the dark about them. As a matter of fact, He willingly and very much desires that we share in what He is doing and WILL do in future events. He wants us to know so we are both ready and not surprised when those coming events take place.

I don’t want to write so much about future events, although I greatly encourage you to take the time to know what those events are. I want us to ponder about the time we are living in right now on the earth. When I say “right now,” I actually mean from the beginning of time, when people were first created and put on the earth. I’m talking about the chunk on God’s time line from the first human being put on the earth until now. From that time on we have lived in a time of mercy. Yes, we are indeed living in a time of mercy. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice in making a way for us to know God, every human being has been given the chance to know Him. God has given us this span of 70 or 80 years with the opportunity of actually getting to choose whether we want to spend the next years in eternity with Him.

Do we realize how incredibly short this time on the earth is? Picture God’s time line again. It has no starting place, but always was. In the middle somewhere is the day you were born. A short distance longer, the day you will die. Then, it is a NEVER ENDING time line from there on. God has many plans for every single one of us even into eternity. He has given us these short few years, a span of mercy, to be able to say yes to Him. It may be short, but our days on the earth are so precious to God. Every choice we make for Him He is writing down and taking notice. Every decision counts and matters to Him. He doesn’t forget any of them. They may not weigh much now, and people may not honor or praise you for making such choices, but in eternity the weight and value of those choices will be seen as they really are.

Many are fearful about what lies after death. You don’t have to be! Take advantage of your life on the earth, because it does matter what we do. Our lives really are being recorded! It’s so exciting to know every choice counts! And also, because of Jesus, our sin is the only thing that is not recorded or evaluated. His love covers our multitude of sins so we are able to stand in relationship with Him without shame. When we stand before God on that day, He will mention a lot of things about our lives. He will recall small things that we have forgotten, but He remembers. He will talk about the times we honored Him by helping and loving others. There is one thing He won’t mention, and that is our sin.

Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near.” It’s astounding to know that in your life and in mine, God can be found. All we have to do is make room for Him. Take advantage of these years of mercy, for the best is yet to come!

Spirit of Adoption - Knowing the Father's Heart in Days to Come

There are so many different parts of God’s personality that gives us different pictures of how He loves us. I want to mention one that happens to be one of my most favorite parts of God. In all of history, there has never been the amount of parentless children than there are now on the earth. Because of increasing violence, wars, and the spread of AIDS, the number of orphans in the world is increasing at a frightening rate. I believe that in the days to come, God will raise up many who know Him as Father. Yes, it will be because of the many who have lost their parents, but it will also be for the ones who have parents, but have lived in abuse and neglect. The brokenness among children will so increase over time that we have to be prepared by knowing the heart of our Father for them. There will be those who are called to bring His heart to children in the most devastating situations. They will have an understanding of the Father’s heart and will not only communicate it to them, but will carry the “spirit of adoption” that is talked about in Romans 8:15. Orphanages will be started, individual adoptions will take place more than ever before, and people will hear the call to go and rescue them in the darkest of areas on the earth. They will tell them of their value, that they are wanted, and that they have a family. It will beautiful, a reflection of what God loves doing.

Even now He is looking for those who will say yes to become a spiritual mother or father. You may not ever adopt or live at an orphanage in a third world country. But you can find a kid that needs your hugs, love, and attention. They are everywhere. We don’t realize the impact we can have on a little one’s life. Then again, you might be someone that will be so privileged to go to the poorest of places in the world to live among them, feed them, clothe them, and hold them.


James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”

Isaiah 40:11 “…He gathers them in His arms and holds them close to His heart…”

Isaiah 49:15 “They said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me the, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget the baby at her side and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you.”

The Narrow Way

It is true God calls us to live on a narrow path. Sometimes that path is very different than what we might imagine. It is often uncomfortable and even called unnecessary to the one who would see it as so. It’s a path of many sacrifices. It’s giving our lives up to find Him. God is not balanced when it comes to loving us. He gave us His entire self. His jealousy over our lives is a reflection of anything but half-hearted devotion. For there is nothing half hearted about Him. There is nothing balanced about Him. He went all the way. He loved us to the point of literally giving up His life! In the same way, we are not called to give Him only a part of our hearts, but everything. The cry in our hearts should be, “I will go where you want me to go and I will do what you want me to do no matter what that looks like. And I do it out of love, not because I have to.” That looks different for every person. For one it may be saying yes to raising children and being a full time mom or dad. For someone else it may be teaching (wink, wink). For someone else it may be literally giving their life as a martyr. Not everyone will be martyrs, but we can all be living martyrs – those that live so in love with the Lord that we would do anything for Him, even if it means giving up things that are seen as necessary and valuable. That is the narrow way. It’s not the easiest way, but it’s the only way to truly find Him. Whatever it looks like in your life, it’s an honor to give Him our very best.

To say we are called to love Him is something that easily rolls off of our tongues. But what does the path of love look like? Do you know how difficult it is to live a life where He is our only audience? Of course you do. If you don’t, I will tell you. It’s difficult! It’s hard living our life with our identity being in God alone. That means, it doesn’t matter so much what people’s opinions are of us, good or bad. Instead, it’s about what we do when no one is looking and learning to live under His values, which are quite different than what we are used to. It’s not about promoting ourselves to become the next best thing. It’s about being the lowest and most humble servant we can be and promoting others ahead of us. It’s about loving unconditionally and taking the last seat so to speak. It’s about loving our enemies and blessing those that curse us. It’s about our inward life and thoughts, not so much our outward appearance. It’s about blessing others in secret and never telling anyone. It’s realizing that God is the only one that sees every part of you, and His opinion is the only one that counts. If we can live out of that reality – that His opinion of us really is the only one that counts, do you know what kinds of things we could accomplish on the earth for His Kingdom?

That’s what He is calling us to – to have our identity so wrapped up in Him, that we aren’t afraid, we aren’t insecure, and we aren’t aware of what other people think. And, of course, we love everyone who talks about us, insults us, and does any wrong against us. Yikes! That’s a tough one! He is calling us to confidence in Him and in His heart and opinion about us. We must be growing in intimacy with Him. It is this kind of love relationship with the Lord that will guard our hearts against being offended at what does or does not happen in our lives. Staying close to the Lord in prayer will protect us from the many disappointments that will happen over our lifetime. The person who is confident in love will love well, especially the ones who treat him/her wrong. You can love your enemy when you know the One that really matters most is undeniably for you and not against you. Our identity must be rooted in Him, or we will get swayed with the opinions of others and end up wasting our lives just because we cared what someone else thought. Think about it! What a waste to let someone else have that kind of control over us! He is calling us back to the first commandment – loving Him with all of our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. It’s only when we have this as first place in our hearts that we can learn to love others well. It doesn’t work the other way around.

Living the narrow way is saying yes to having Him change us. It’s making a real choice to live by His values and not what’s popular in our culture. It is the way of love, serving others, and humility. It’s being ok with living in the background and not being the next best thing. It’s giving your life for someone else to be successful. Will it be easy? Absolutely not. Will it be worth it? I think so.